Quotation
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“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
Albert Einstein · Thinkers beyond philosophy · Modern · 1921
What does it mean?
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. Pure mathematics can be certain because it is formal. The moment it is said to describe the world, it takes on the risk of experience. A rival reading hears a sneer at mathematics, or a fashionable claim that nothing is really true. He loved the mathematics. He is marking the gap an application has to cross. Certainty and reference pull apart.
Did Albert Einstein really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Einstein's published lecture, widely reprinted. This is one of the sentences he actually wrote. The insanity definition, the A-to-B imagination line, and 'in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity' are not, and they are marked separately.
Where it comes from
Lecture 'Geometry and Experience', Prussian Academy of Sciences, 27 January 1921
Approximate date: 1921.
How to use it
When a model in a City risk team is elegant, ask whether it is still on the certain-but-not-about-reality side, or whether it has started to claim the world. The claim is where the risk begins. Elegance is not evidence that the claim has been made carefully, and it is not evidence that the claim is empty.
A mindset reading
This is a philosophy of applied science. Using it to wave away a calculation you dislike is the opposite of the lecture. Using it to pretend that no model ever touches the world is the other opposite.
Understand the philosophy
The 1921 lecture, 'Geometry and Experience', asks how geometry, a product of thought, can tell us about the world. It belongs with relativity. It does not belong with the fake definitions of insanity and imagination that circulate under his name.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. Pure mathematics can be certain because it is formal. The moment it is said to describe the world, it takes on the risk of experience. A rival reading hears a sneer at mathematics, or a fashionable claim that nothing is really true. He loved the mathematics. He is marking the gap an application has to cross. Certainty and reference pull apart.
Did Albert Einstein really say this?
Well attested. Einstein's published lecture, widely reprinted. This is one of the sentences he actually wrote. The insanity definition, the A-to-B imagination line, and 'in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity' are not, and they are marked separately.
Which work is it in?
Lecture 'Geometry and Experience', Prussian Academy of Sciences, 27 January 1921 Approximate date: 1921.